Date: March 12, 2010
The Hollywood cinemas once again bring you not only great entertainment,
but visits with the actors that make the films.
Cry-Baby
Live in Person: Traci Lords!
***DATE CHANGE***
This event was originally scheduled to take place on March 19th - If you bought
tickets in advance for the March 19th showings, please contact us by phone at
630-427-1880 or stop by the box office.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Hollywood Blvd
Friday, March 12th shows at 7:00 & 9:00 - (Tickets)
Hollywood Collector’s Show
Saturday, March 13 & Sunday March 14
At the Rosemont Hotel @ O'Hare
Traci Lords will be available for personal meet & greets with autographs at Hollywood Blvd.
Traci Lords: a study of a determined and complex woman with a very controversial background.
An incredibly developed, full-figured girl at a young age, she easily duped photographers, producers and directors (with the help of a false birth certificate and driver's license). Her stage name is said to be in tribute to Katharine Hepburn's character ‘Tracy Lord’ from “The Philadelphia Story” (the same character played by Grace Kelly in “High Society
Stating she was 20 rather than 15, modeling for adult magazines soon led to adult films culminating in her arrest by FBI agents in 1986 when it was discovered she was underage. This meant that any films with her in them were illegal to rent or buy, and video stores around the country rushed to remove them. After her exile from adult films, she began to resurrect her life and fulfill her lifelong ambition to star in mainstream films.
In 1987 she enrolled in the Lee Strasberg acting school, began voice lessons and built on her natural acting talents. Her first mainstream came in “Not of This Earth” (1988), a remake of the classic Roger Corman sci-fi film from the 1950s. Then in 1990, she appeared in John Waters' “Cry-Baby”, playing the role of Wanda Woodward. Other movies on her resume include “Tommyknockers”, “Black Mask 2: City of Masks”, the classic sci-fi vampire film “Blade”. She won a Best Actress Award at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival for her role in “Chump Change”. She has also made cameo appearances in “Serial Mom”, “Nowhere”, “Virtuosity” and "Panic Button".
Throughout the 1990s her continued hard work and persistence got her the reputation as a reliable and respected actress, in addition to being a singer and an advocate for gay rights. Her recurring role in early 1995 as a sneering sociopath, Rikki, on "Melrose Place" was critically acclaimed and landed her more roles in other movies, playing villains and psychotic characters. She also guest-starred in a number of other TV shows ranging from "Married with Children", "Roseanne", "MacGyver", "Nash Bridges", “Highlander: The Series”, “Tales from the Crypt”, “Hercules”, “Gilmore Girls”, “Profiler” and “Will & Grace” among others. She was almost cast as the female lead in Martin Scorsese's “Casino”, but lost out to Sharon Stone who went on to win a Golden Globe for the role.
From late in 2000 to 2001, Lords appeared in the Francis Ford Coppola produced sci-fi series “First Wave”, playing Jordan Radcliffe, the newest member of a group called “Raven Nation” that combats extraterrestrial aliens.
Her autobiography, “Traci Lords: Underneath It All” made the New York Times bestseller list. In December 2003, Lords wrote and directed a short film with Fox Searchlight entitled “Sweet Pea” released and shown at film festivals in 2005. The film is loosely inspired by an experience recounted in her autobiography: A teenage girl finds herself overcome with doubt after being raped by her boyfriend.
While Lords now decries the adult film industry, she continues to use the stage name she gave herself as a minor, and ultimately made her legal name. She said, "I chose to stop running from it. Instead, I won it, legally changing my name to Traci Elizabeth Lords. That's who I was, and that's who I was going to be." Lords stated she is not trying to deny her past, telling Oprah Winfrey: "I found you can run but you cannot hide."
Lords is married and has a 2 year old son, Joseph Gunnar. Lords' most recent film appearance was in last year’s “Zack and Miri Make a Porno”. Upcoming film works are “Angels There Attend” (in production), “Au Pair”, “Kansas” (post-production for 2010 release) and “I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell” (just completed).
How our
celebrity events work
Our very popular series of celebrity events often includes a table in our lobby
where you can briefly meet the stars of some of your favorite films, get their
autograph or a posed photograph with them.
These events are very expensive to stage and most celebrities are paid for
their personal appearances including all first class expenses.
These events are often heavily attended and we always suggest that you arrive
early. Celebrities are generally scheduled to arrive one hour prior to
the first scheduled showing of their film. They may or may not be
available to the public after a screening so we always suggest that you
purchase a souvenir and meet them prior to entering the auditorium. Your
early arrival also helps ensure that you can enjoy the widest selection of
seats when you watch the film. You must have purchased an admission ticket to
get in the line to meet our guests.
For some extraordinarily popular events we have to run select films in
more than one auditorium, so our guests will appear in person in the largest
auditorium and we will feed live video of their greeting into secondary
auditoriums before we roll the film. Seating is always on a first come
first serve basis so you may or may not be in the same auditorium as our guest
during an interview, although you will not miss anything when viewing it live
on our big screen in an adjacent auditorium. If space permits, there may
be standing room during an interview.
Depending on the length of the line and scheduling, our guest may or may not
entertain questions from the audience and introduce the film from the
stage. This is entirely discretionary and varies from event to
event. Some of our guests make an extraordinary effort to ensure a great
experience and are very talkative, although this may back up the seating for
later show times. Sometimes the lines to get autographs and pictures are so
long that timing will not permit the actor to make an in-theater appearance at
all. We try to please as many people as possible and hate to turn away
people from the line or the shows, although this will at times wreak havoc with
the show schedule.
In most instances, there is a charge per autograph, whether it is a photograph
or item from here at the table or something that you bring with you. You
must have purchased an autograph in order to get a posed photograph with our
guest. In some cases, we do have a professional photographer set up to
take a picture with our guest, also at a nominal charge, and in those instances
you may only get a posed photograph through this system. We do take
credit cards and there is also an ATM on premise.
You may always take a candid unposed photograph of our guest from elsewhere in
the lobby at no additional charge.
